Fernando Alonso
|birthplace = Oviedo, Spain |death date = |placeofdeath = |nationality = |status = Active |currentteam = Ferrari |currentcar = 5 |firstrace = 2001 Australian Grand Prix |firstwin = 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix |lastrace = |lastwin = 2012 German Grand Prix |2011Position = 4th |2011Pts = 257 }} Fernando Alonso Díaz (born 29 July 1981) is a Formula One driver currently driving for Ferrari, having previously driven for Minardi, Renault (twice) and McLaren. He is generally considered to be one of the best drivers currently in Formula One, and is best known for winning two world championships in 2005 and 2006, and for almost winning it in 2010. He is currently second in the championship behind Sebastian Vettel, having secured wins at the , and the . He was the youngest world champion in the history of the sport after his 2005 title, winning it at the age of 24 years and 58 days, becoming the youngest double world champion the next season. He also was the youngest polesitter, youngest podium finisher, youngest driver to set fastest lap and youngest winner. Lewis Hamilton became the youngest world champion, but Sebastian Vettel now holds all these records bar the fastest lap record, which belongs to Nico Rosberg. Formula One History Minardi 2001 :Main article: 2001 Fernando Alonso Season After winning the Euro Series by Nissan at his first attempt in 1999 and coming fourth in International Formula 3000 in 2000, Alonso was signed up by Minardi in . When he started in Australia, Alonso became the third youngest driver to ever start a Grand Prix, after Mike Thackwell and Ricardo Rodriguez. The car, the PS01, was unimpressive and Alonso was unable to make a challenge on the points (which were the first six places). However, Alonso did pull off some strong performances, and while his best finish was tenth and last at the , his best performance was at the , where the Spaniard held off Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Olivier Panis to finish eleventh out of the sixteen finishers. Renault 2002 Alonso became the test driver for Renault F1 (who had taken over the team) in , instead of a seat at (which was taken by Felipe Massa) or a full-time race seat at Renault, which did not materialise. Alonso covered 1,642 laps of testing in 2002. 2003 :Main article: 2003 Fernando Alonso Season Alonso was signed up to the full race seat at for , replacing Jenson Button in a decision which was critised in the British media after Button's strong performances that season. The decision was proven to be a good one, as within two races, Alonso became the youngest polesitter in Formula One history at the . He only finished third, however, behind Kimi Räikkönen and Rubens Barrichello. The next race, in Brazil was another podium, however, Alonso had the accident that brought out the red flag and stopped the race early. He missed the double waved yellow flags and the safety car board and crashed into the debris from Mark Webber's earlier accident. At his home Grand Prix, Alonso qualified strongly, in third, and managed to finish in second place. This put him in third place in the championship at the time. A string of strong performances followed. At the , Alonso became a winner for the first time, dominating the field and leading all but one lap from pole. He managed to lap the defending World Champion, Michael Schumacher, in the process. The win made him the youngest ever race winner at just 22 years old. Unfortuanately, in the three races that remained, Alonso only scored a solitary point (at Monza). Alonso classified sixth in the championship, with 55 points. His more experienced team mate, Jarno Trulli, came in eighth place, with 22 less points, Alonso clearly the stronger of the pair. 2004 :Main article: 2004 Fernando Alonso Season Staying with for the season, Alonso performed well, scoring four podiums and four fourth places, but not taking any wins. He started with a podium, taking third place in Australia, behind the massively dominant . He scored points in five of the next seven races, retiring in Monaco. Alonso had a high speed accident at the , after a tyre deflated. Alonso took pole at the , where came second after Michael Schumacher's impressive strategy of four pit stops. After a poor British GP, Alonso scored two more podiums in Germany and Hungary. He finished strongly in the last three to races to finish Formula One's then-longest season in fourth place in the championship, with 59 points. 2005 2006 McLaren 2007 Return to Renault 2008 2009 Ferrari 2010 2011 2012 :Main article: 2012 Fernando Alonso Season Alonso's third year with did not start as planned. The F2012 was a very poor car at first, and this was evident at the first race in Australia. Alonso qualified twelfth after beaching the car in the gravel in Q2. But after a strong start and a bit of luck, Alonso had reached sixth at the end of lap two. He drove a strong race, withstanding Pastor Maldonado's late race pressure in the final stint to finish in fifth place. The was a surprise for everyone. Despite only qualifying ninth, Alonso made up four places at the start and mastered the wet conditions to take the lead on lap 16, a lead he held until he pitted with about fifteen laps to go after being overtaken by Sergio Pérez. Alonso gained an advantage by pitting ahead of Pérez and took the lead back. Alonso went on to win, helped by Pérez making an error and losing about five seconds. The unexpected win propelled Alonso into an unlikely championship lead after two races. In China and Bahrain, Alonso finished ninth and seventh after two difficult races. He home race was much stronger, initially qualifying third, which became second after Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying. Yet another good start meant Alonso went into the first corner ahead of polesitter Pastor Maldonado. After holding the lead after the first pit stop, Alonso was held up by Charles Pic and Maldonado, also performing an undercut, took a five second lead. The third an final pitstop was a fast one by the Ferrari crew, and after a fastest lap on the out lap, Alonso was within seconds of Maldonado, but the Spaniard's tyres could not hold out and he fell back, holding off Kimi Räikkönen for an impressive second place. Alonso's form did not stop there, driving a strong race at the , overcoming Hamilton to take third place and to take the championship lead from Sebastian Vettel. The was not a massive success for Alonso. He lead a large portion of the race until his tyres degraded and he was overtaken by Hamilton, before losing out to Romain Grosjean, Pérez and Vettel for a lucky fifth and losing his championship lead. The next race in Europe was an unexpected success. Alonso qualified 11th in one of the closest qualifying sessions of all time, but fought hard to be gifted victory after Vettel's alternator failure. Alonso had made many overtakes and did not lose his lead. With Hamilton not scoring, Alonso had a lead of 20 points, ahead of Mark Webber. Alonso took his and Ferrari's first pole position since the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix in the wet qualifying at the . Alonso lead for most of the race before ceding to Webber with five laps left. In Germany, Alonso set pole again, and took advantage of Vettel's misfortune and held off Jenson Button and a lapped Hamilton to take victory, his third of the season. At Hungary, Alonso qualified sixth but had a good start to head Räikkönen into the first corner in fifth place. Alonso finished fifth, ahead of Button after Räikkönen got past after the first stint and got Button's strategy wrong. At the , Alonso qualified sixth (which became fifth after Maldonado's penalty). After making a good start, he was hit by Grosjean and Hamilton at the first corner, with Grosjean's car a metre or so away from Alonso's head. Alonso was forced to retire. Had Alonso finished in the points, he would have equalled Michael Schumacher's record of 24 consectutive points finishes, but he was left stranded on 23. The next race was the , Ferrari's home race. Alonso had a difficult Friday, both his practice sessions being cut short due to mechanical failure. Then, after dominating the first two sessions of qualifying, a roll-bar issue meant that Alonso qualified in tenth place. He made a good start and slowly made his way up the field, even overtaking teammate Felipe Massa to eventually finish in third place, increasing his championship lead. In Singapore, Alonso once again finished third to secure his fourth podium there out of five races (the other being fourth in 2011), benefitting from retirements of both Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado. In Japan, Alonso's luck ran out and he was caught by Räikkönen before the first corner after the Finn had put a tyre on the grass. The slight touch gave Alonso a left-rear puncture, and he spun off, onto the gravel, and into retirement. Alonso's once-strong lead in the championship was reduced to just four points ahead of Vettel. The saw Alonso finish in third place, one place ahead of teammate Massa, and behind Webber and race-winner (for the third consecutive race) Sebastian Vettel. The result saw Vettel overtake Alonso in the Drivers' World Championship for the first time since June. Alonso's deficit was just six points. In India, Alonso managed to finish second, but Vettel won his fourth race in a row, and thus Vettel's championship lead increased to 13 points. At the next race, in Abu Dhabi, Alonso's title challenge was given a major boost as Vettel was excluded from qualifying, and started the race from the pit lane. Alonso came second again, but after a lot of luck and skill, Vettel recovered remarkably to finish third, and the gap was reduced to just ten points. In the penultimate race, the , Alonso qualified in ninth. This was promoted to eighth after Romain Grosjean's gearbox penalty. This left Alonso on the dirty side of the grid. decided to break the seal on teammate Massa's gearbox. Since Massa had qualified ahead of Alonso, Alonso moved up to seventh and onto the clean side of the grid. Alonso benefitted greatly from the sacrifice, and was fourth at the end of lap one, and after Webber's retirement, Alonso once again finished on the podium, with Massa close behind. Vettel, however, was second and thus the gap between the pair was increased to thirteen points. Formula One Statistical Overview F1 Career Record * Season in progress, as of the 2012 United States Grand Prix Statistics Correct as of the 2012 United States Grand Prix Wins Correct as of the 2012 United States Grand Prix Career Results | |13th| | | |14th|17th|16th|10th| | |13th| |11th|0|23rd}} |- | 2002 | colspan=22| Test Driver | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |55|6th}} | | | | | | | | | |10th| | | | | | | |59|4th}} | | | | | | | | | | | |11th| | | | | | |133|1st}} | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |134|1st}} | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |109|3rd}} | |10th| | |10th| | | |11th| | | | | | | | |61|5th}} |11th|9th| | | |10th|14th| | | | | | |10th| |14th|26|9th}} | |13th| | | | | | |14th| | | | | | | | | |252|2nd}} | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |257|4th}} External links * Fernando Alonso's Official website (English) * Fernando Alonso on Wikipedia * Fernando Alonso on Manipe F1 Notes es:Fernando Alonso Category:Current Drivers Category:World Championship Winning Drivers Category:2001 Début Drivers Category:Spanish Drivers Category:Minardi Drivers Category:Renault Drivers Category:McLaren Drivers Category:Ferrari Drivers Category:Fernando Alonso Category:1981 births Category:Living people Category:2012 Season Drivers